[2-dimensional color-coded fetal Doppler echocardiography--its value in prenatal diagnosis]

105 fetuses between 16 and 38 weeks of gestation were studied by fetal echocardiography using color-coded two-dimensional Doppler-echocardiography (2-DDE). Two-dimensional, M-mode, and spectral-Doppler analyses were also performed. In 11 fetuses, structural and/or functional abnormalities were detected. Abnormalities were correctly excluded in all other fetuses. The advantages of the 2-DDE are, in particular: rapid screening for flow abnormalities in the fetal heart and, thus, shortening of the Doppler-examination time; furthermore, a rapid diagnosis of valvular regurgitation, valvular stenosis and abnormal shunting of blood across the interatrial and interventricular septa; the diagnosis of complex congenital heart defects is facilitated by and, in certain case, only possible using 2-DDE.